Heat Wins Mean Big Money for South Florida Businesses

In South Florida we are so proud of our professional teams. With the NBA playoffs in full swing, we couldn’t be prouder than our basketball team the Miami Heat. Beyond the pride that we feel, it is also nice to know that each step they take towards the Championship they actually have a positive effect on the South Florida economy. The Sun Sentinel reports that:

The Miami Heat are one win away from making the NBA Finals, and most everyone is cheering.

Some South Florida businesses are cheering just a little bit louder. Wins equate to cash for them, with the Finals bringing a windfall of sales and tourism to the area.

Metro Signs of Hollywood is especially attentive. The company is scheduled to make and install the giant NBA Finals banners that will hang at the American Airlines Arena. The job last year brought the small firm more than $20,000, according to company president Bruno Dede.

Metro Signs already has benefited this spring by making the giant Lebron James MVP sign that currently hangs outside the Heat’s home arena. And after last year’s NBA title, it installed new graphics in the Heat locker room and part of the arena known as Championship Alley — a job that ran into the six figures.

The firm’s MetroWrapz division also has been cashing in recently by working with car dealers to wrap vehicles with the Heat’s “White Hot” playoffs theme and flashy graphics reading: “Let’s Go Heat!”

In Fort Lauderdale, Atlas Embroidery and Screen Printing already has been shipping containers full of T-shirts at its factory, waiting to be printed for the Eastern Conference championships and for the NBA Finals.

Printing could begin as early as Saturday night, just minutes after Game 6 against the Indiana Pacers, “when the Heat win,” Atlas president Mitch Lombard said confidently. Conference champions shirts could be available in South Florida stores as early as Sunday morning.

Additional shirts for the NBA Finals would be printed next week, with as many as 60 to 70 employees at the 100-worker firm busy on the NBA job and doing overtime at nights as needed, said Lombard.

For the Duffy’s Sports Grill restaurants, the Heat advancing means more watch parties and extra sales.

Each Heat playoff game brings in about $50,000 in additional sales for the chain that is based in Palm Beach Gardens and includes nearly two dozen restaurants, said Duffy’s president Paul Emmett.

“If we have three games a week, that’s significant sales and earnings for us,” Emmett said.

The Hooters restaurant at Bayside Marketplace mall near the Heat arena in downtown Miami adds as many as 10 employees during Heat playoff games to handle the crowds, said manager Jesus Toledo.

“Even when it’s not a home game, we get extra people coming in.” said Toledo. “We want them to win.”

Ticket sellers also expect to gain from increased tourism.

A Place for Tickets in Hollywood already has a waiting list of out-of-towners who want game seats, hotel rooms and restaurant reservations in Miami for the NBA Finals, said president Eric Kissel.

Many sports tourists want to stay in top resorts in South Beach, so they can be a short taxi ride from the arena and then can party back at their hotel or at night spots nearby.

Kissel estimates tickets for the first two Miami home games in the NBA Finals — Thursday and June 9 — would start at around $200 per seat in the upper levels and likely reach somewhere in the $10,000 to $25,000 range for seats courtside.

Whether it is for bragging rights, or just because it makes business sense, we have just one thing to say: “Go HEAT!!!!!”